The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-11-17
THE GARDEN OF EDEN.
ITS PROBABLE LOCATION NEAR THE
CITY OF CHARLESTON.

Bishop Keener Gives Some Reasons for
Such a Suppositiou--Thc Voyage of Noah
in the Ark, ......
The Rev. j. @. Keener DID,, in re-
viewing an article in the Review, writes
to the Southern Christian Advocate as
follows:
am, however, little surprised at
the quiet way in which you, Mr.. Editor,
take the speoulations of DIR. Warren, of
the Boston University, which DIR. Har-
rison has noticed somewhat approvingly
in his "Book Reviews" / should Ger
tainly not allow this industrious and
scholarly Bostonian to take tho very
ground from under mo without o pro-
test. If "tho Cradle of tho Human
Race" is to be found at the North Pole,
Of course no one can think or look to-
ward it without seeing Boston and its
University.
Whatever may be tho merits Of tho
Doctors theory, he has at least lOOsoned
up Eden. 1t is now fairly at sea.
have been content all my life to consider
the question as settled, and have betr
content to think of "NIesopotamia" rs
tho acknowledged homo of our first
parents. But the Doctor says that the
Arctic circle furnishes the true solution
Of this fascinating problem. "This
perennial interest i'll tho search for tho
garden of Eden" was, says the Review,
the inspiration of Columbus; that she
cherished the conviction almost, perhaps
actually, to his dying day that no had
discovered Paradise" "Ono Of tho
most pathetic pnssa8?s to be found iii all
literature" says DIR. Warren, "is that in
which announces to his royal patrons in
his discovery OF the Il cent to tho gato of
the long lost garden o. Eden OF course
Columbus was mistun II. 1t may be,
however that he was nu. so fur out OF
tho way as DIR. Warr,h surposes. At
least therC remains soIy1nirG to be said
IN favor OF Southern latih, ,des in cOnncc-
ton with Eden. Columbus landed too
low. The next point attracted attention
of those in search Of tho site Of P,.rCdise
was tho Florida coast. That vision, too,
at last went out like Il dissolvin;; camera.
bsl tako 1t for granted that the theory
which places Eden at tho North Pole
makes 1t strNddle both hcmisphcres, and
and that brings it into America. | sup
pose, too, the suggestion sprNnG from
the discovery of a mammoth in 177l in Il
tributary of the Lena, in Siberia, lnti-
tudc G5 degrees North; and also in 1894
one was found III Siberia. Both, how
ever, had very close set red wool an inch
and half long over tho skin-an Arctic
covering in fact. Then | suppose the
day OF Sin months would bO quito n
Wlndtall to those who want "morC room"
ii the Mosaic account Of 'the evening
and the morning" Of the first day.
Now, suppose We bring Eden down
South, say us far as Charleston, en-
bracinS tho coast between tho Santcc
and tho Savannah, with It's several rivers
and iulots, between tho 30th and 10th
parallels OF latitude. We have for it.
this much to say:
|. In and near the Cooper and the
Ashley rivers there is Vast collection
OF the rcmnius Of tho largest mammals,
specially Of their molars and vetcbr.c.
These arc remarkable for their variety:
very hugs. very many, and evidently Of
many distinct species. We put this
against all solitary individuals as vet
discovered III or near the Artic regions
Z. Kcsldc8 those remains, which, from
tue amount OF silica i'll them, have re-
sisted the action Of time and acids, there
arc phosphate masses il which these
molars arc imbcddcd. Probably the
large bones returned to their original
source. Then there aro scattered about
small and large bouldors Of tho phos-
phatc OF lime, indicating at q creator
depth n mine Of i'n3 IMMORAL.
3. Ills show that GhcSo animals were
not tloated into this place by the notion
OF sea currents, but were here from tho
first and found i'll the aIluvial plains
around, and meadows filled with bulb
Gus plants, and AZ uXhubcrant flora.
their original hGOltut. Only region
supplying plants fed by heavy pnos-
phote pabulum could support creatures
OF such enormous bone.
i. AS these several species multiplied
from single pair, MASSES Of their re-
mans would most probably indicate the
place OF their origin. Whether bohomcth
was made IN Eden, we know that he WAS
reviewed there, and there named by
Adam. And the Almighty says, speak
ing OF Dob: "Bchold now behomoth.
winch made with thee; he eatcth grass
like an OK;
ther strengthened by tho building of the
ark. AS the race had not beer sGparnted
by dispersion or language it is to be
supposed that Noah lived not verv far
from the original homo Of man.
The construction Of a vessel at that
timc required the same conditions OF
material and shape now essential in
naval architecture. INDEED, the dimen-
k1ons Of the ark arc noA those Of first
class sea steamer for freight, aud arc the
standard proportions i'll Tie English Ad-
mlralty Office. 1t was IL long, morrow
vessel, evidently designed f,r speed and
long voyage. Had it been mnde only
to start from a given point and float
about for $50 days and then ground nj
no great distance from the point Of de-
parture, it would have been sh.lDcd
heavy and square.
The timbcrs for such vessel Of
length, over 500 feet, required timber of
continuous length and great strength.
The cypress was entirely too brittle for
the purpose. It's knees and ribs wouId
require such wood as the live oak, grown
near the sea, used to storms, and of n
grain running every way, bearing equal
ly well strain from every direction.
Large quantities of pitch and tar would
be required for pitching it heavily to
the within and without. The word
gopher" means "pitch," "pine;" and it
IS probable that the gopher wood was
of the long-leaf prne. | need not say